The "wolves" did not know yet that they were discovered, for they could not see Ted in his cupola watch-house, although they could easily see Bud and Clay as they walked around the house, now in the full light of the moon. Ted was suddenly startled by hearing a noise to the left, and at the same time he heard Bud stop in his march. Evidently he had been attracted by the sound also. As Ted looked he saw the cause of the noise. It was a wolf, larger than the others, which had crept closer to the house. As he was looking at it he was astonished to see it rise up. Then he caught the glint of a revolver barrel in the moonlight. In an instant he knew the meaning of it. With the precision of a machine his own rifle rose to his shoulder, and, without a second's hesitation, a streak of flame belched from it, followed by the roar of the report. Looking closely through the smoke, Ted saw the "wolf" straighten up to the full stature of a man, then fall to the ground, over which it went writhing and tossing, while at the same time the most human of yells expressing agony came from it. This was the signal for the other "wolves" to howl, and the most unearthly noise come from all sides of the house. These were followed by a perfect fusillade of rifle and revolver shots from everywhere, most of them aimed at the cupola. But as soon as Ted had fired the shot that had brought down the man wolf he had jumped through the scuttle into the attic of the house, and the balls harmlessly riddled the cupola. From a window on the second floor Ted saw a score or more of forms leap into prominence; the forms of men who cast aside their skins of wolf, and who had turned their wolfish howls into the scarcely less fiendish yells of men. At the sight he rushed downstairs, and found the boys hastily gathering in the dark living room, arming themselves from the gun rack, and taking their places beside the windows. In the middle of the room stood the major, supporting with one arm the unsteady form of his brother Frederic, who had risen at the first alarm in spite of his wound, and who insisted upon fighting with the rest. "The Gray Wolves have come," he said. "They will be hard to drive off. But you must do it, or go yourselves." Stella and the young Japanese girl were standing at one of the windows peering fearfully out. "Come away from there, Stella," said Ted. "They might see you and fire." "All right, Ted, but you can bet that I will be in this somewhere," said Stella. "It's my business to defend this girl, and I'm going to do it." Ted smiled, but said nothing, and passed on around the room, seeing that the boys were properly placed to resist the attack when it came. Outside all was quiet again. The howls had ceased, and not a man was in evidence anywhere. It was the calm before the storm. "What's the plan?" said Bud, coming up to Ted, for he and Clay had run into the house at Ted's shot from the cupola.